


Nevermind the Bruises

by ecstaticallygray



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Dick Grayson needs love guys, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 1, Team as Family, protect him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 10:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17744108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecstaticallygray/pseuds/ecstaticallygray
Summary: After escaping from Trigon's mind-control, Dick and Kory have a talk.





	Nevermind the Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> After reading through the entire Titans tag in one day, I decided to give it a try myself. I'm in severe series-withdrawal right now and frankly cannot comprehend the amount of time I need to wait for season 2. Please excuse my excessive use of ellipses. Enjoy!

The ride away from Angela’s now-destroyed house was quiet. But not a good quiet –it was the kind of quiet that sat at the edge of all their throats, raw, anticipatory. Donna drove her car and Kory sat in the passenger seat, back ramrod straight, hands clenched too tight on top of her lap. In the backseat, Dick leaned against the window, a spent Rachel collapsed into his side, dozing fitfully. Gar sat on her other side, head leaned back against the seat, but eyes moving to and fro –to Donna’s reflection in the rearview mirror, to the back of Kory’s head, to Rachel, his gaze stopping and softening in concern.

“You can all crash at my place,” Donna broke the silence. “But we have to stop somewhere for the night.”

Dick let out a grunt of accent and Kory made a similar noise in the back of her throat. Even though he hadn’t exerted himself much in the last forty-something hours, his whole body felt like it has been doused in lead and then solidified. Even with the heat on blast, he felt cold all over, except for the side in which Rachel had cocooned herself into. He glanced at the kid in concern –to lose a mother again only days after discovering her. God, he couldn't even imagine what she must be feeling.

But by now, he knew one thing: bad things happened when he let Rachel out of his sight. And he wasn't going to make that mistake ever again.

He closed his eyes as a shooting pain burst across his forehead, but quickly opened them once again. Every time he so much as blinked, he could picture the details of the hallucination in the back of his mind, crisp as day, clearer than some of the most cherished of his memories. He let out a short breath and focused instead on the back of Kory’s head, on the little springing curls spilling over her shoulders, coming to life under the blinks of streetlight passing through the windows. The hallucination appeared in front of him in flashes; Dawn –the sickly sweet reality of their life together. Gotham city –awash in crime, doused in darkness. Bruce, the flicker of his cape in the night, the feel of this throat being crushed under-

Kory –smiling and dark-haired. Kory –cold and lifeless.

He shook his head and focused on her curls once again. She was alive, Dick had managed to find his way out of Trigon’s mind-voodoo, and they were all safe. At least for now.

It was a humbling reality though, the reason why Dick had been so easy to trap – he was the most susceptible to the darkness inside of him. He had been hanging at the edge of it for so long and it had been almost too easy to make him succumb to it, to make him let go of the ledge. Kory and Donna would have been harder to control, because they were good. Both, so fundamentally and viscerally good. And Dick, he was more Robin now than he was himself and that was the crux of all his problems.

If it wasn’t for them, each of them sitting so silently in the car moving through the night, he would have never made it out with all of himself intact. After the last couple of weeks, it shouldn't have been a startling revelation. But it was.

To him, so used to being by himself ever since he left Bruce, it still was.

 He didn't know how much time had passed before Donna was pulling up in front of a small motel, almost abandoned at the late hour, a few flickering lights casting stretched shadows along the dewy pavement. They piled out of the car, Dick lifting Rachel in his arms instead of waking her up. She looked paler than usual, the electric strands of her hair even sharper against her skin. Fighting against the powers of her father had taken toll on her body. And Dick had no qualms admitting that none of them would have made it out without her fighting for their side.

 The motel was mostly empty so Donna got them all rooms, passing around keys before taking one for herself. Dick carried Rachel to the room beside his own, placing her gently on the bed before taking off her boots. Gar trailed into the room behind him, taking a seat on the ledge in front of the window. He looked around the room and then to Rachel's sleeping form on the bed, eyes lost in the events of the past day.

“I'm just gonna hang around here for a bit,” he said, absently.

Dick nodded and then left the two teenagers, closing the door behind him and letting himself into his own room. He went to the shower first, standing mindlessly beneath the scalding water as if it could scrub away the sticky remains of the hallucination from his body like something corporeal. Changing into clean clothes, he took a seat on the bed, fingers spreading across the scratchy sheets before fisting them in his hands. There was some kind of manic energy in his limbs and his mind felt unhinged, like Trigon had shifted the core of his reality when he had been scrounging around in Dick’s mind.

It had felt so real, like he would wake up and still be at that house, like he would open his bag and still find a stuffed tiger sitting on top, like Wayne manor was still destroyed, an entire army of police force buried under its debris, victims of a massacre they never saw coming.

He stood up suddenly, pacing around the room once before he was stepping out through the door and into the empty hallway. Without thinking about exactly what he was doing, he walked over to Kory’s door and knocked softly on its surface.

There was a few seconds of silence before the door popped open and-

“Donna?”

The woman in question had already changed into her nightclothes and was looking at him in tired confusion.

Dick took a step back and shook his head, “Shit, sorry-”

Donna rolled her eyes, gently teasing, “Kory’s in the one on the right.”

Dick puffed out an embarrassed breath, glancing at his feet and then back again. “Right.”

“Night, lover boy,” Donna said, closing the door behind her.

This time, Dick knocked on the right door, and it pulled open to reveal Kory on the other side. She hadn't changed yet and it was still jarring to see her dressed entirely in black instead of her usual metallics. It made him realize that even though it felt like eons had passed, it hadn't been more than two days since they had discovered who Kory really was.

He also realized that it was the first time he was knocking on her door instead of the other way around and for a second, he felt self-conscious.

“Hey,” he said, sheepishly. “Can I come in?”

She smiled, even though it didn't stretch to her eyes like it usually did. She opened the door wider, “Sure.”

He walked in, unsure suddenly of where he stood after the way he had walked away from the group only a few days ago. The first time between them had flowed so naturally, there had been no thoughts, no doubts, only a cool assurance deep in his veins as he had gazed into her large, earnest eyes. The second time, they had both been so rattled after what happened at the asylum that they had mutually sought each other out. When Kory had shown up at his door, he hadn't been surprised. He had only pulled her in by the waist and in the silky smoothness of her skin, in the curls of her hair falling around him like a halo, he had forgotten everything, forgotten the harsh words his own conscience had thrown at him, forgotten the smarting ache in his knuckles, forgotten the endless road ahead of him, one that he now had to navigate without the help of Robin.

Now, he didn't really know what he wanted. He knew he wanted to be close to her. He knew he wanted to look at her until he could erase the image of her lifeless eyes out of his mind.

He glanced around the room as he took a seat on her bed. She paused by the door for a few second before she walked over to him, standing close enough that her thighs brushed his knees.

“How’s Rachel?” she asked, eyes trailing over his face as if making sure that his eyes were once again his own.

He felt a tightness in his chest at the concern in her voice. “Still sleeping,” he replied. “Gar’s with her.”

“Good,” she said. “That’s good.” There was a meaningful pause in the air and Dick knew they were both going over everything that had just transpired.

“This isn’t over,” Kory said, finally. “He's going to come for her.”

“I know,” Dick said, darkly. “We'll have to be ready when he does. “

Kory paused, deliberately. “We?”

Dick felt a stab of regret deep in his gut. Maybe if he hadn't abandoned them after the asylum, they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. It hurt to think that Kory would doubt his intention to stay now, but he knew that he deserved it.

“We,” he said, locking eyes with her to convey his conviction.

Something in her posture loosened and the smile she gave him was freer, more like herself. One of her hands reached out to him, trailing across his shoulder to play with the hair at the back of his head. He suppressed a low shudder as his heartbeat picked up.

As if she had given him permission to move, he settled a hand on the curve of her waist, thumb rubbing over the thin fabric of her shirt, almost in question.

“Tamaranean, huh?” he said, voice lower than before.

“I still don't remember much,” she answered. “But I do remember why I volunteered to come to Earth.”

“Why’s that?”

A somberness settled over her face, and her answer was slow, cautious. “Because there was nothing left for me in Tamaran.”

His hand on her waist tightened, the honesty in her words hitting a part of him that he seldom pulled out. He couldn't help but remember the day he had left Gotham, bags packed, eyes forward, determined not to look back.

He broke his gaze, finding it hard to say what he wanted to say with her standing so close. “There's something for you here,” he said with a quiet intensity, “on Earth.”

When he looked back up, there was a soft smile playing at the edge of her lips. “There is,” she agreed.

Her hand traveled upwards, nails scratching against the back of his head, making him lose his train of thought for a few seconds. Suddenly changing the subject, she said, “You told us that Trigon trapped you in a hallucination. Tell me what you saw.”

“Kory…” he started.

“The way you looked at us when you came to… I've never seen you look that way, Dick.”

It was an effort to not back away from her grip. It seemed wrong somehow to tell her about his imagined reality with Dawn, not while sitting on her bed, not with the inches of space between them - especially since he hadn't thought of being with Dawn in a long time.

He inhaled, knowing from the look on Kory’s face that she wasn't about to let him off the hook, “He -he showed me this alternate reality. I had a family, a life. It was a perfect world… and then he gave me a choice: to stay there in that perfect world, or to go back to my old life, to my old self.”

“You went back,” Kory surmised.

“I went back,” he said. The hallucination once again screeched through the back of his mind and when he shivered at the false memories, he knew Kory felt it.

“I crossed a line,” his continued, gruffly. “I did something there was no coming back from. That was how he got me.”

“That wasn't you,” Kory said, intuitively. “That was what he made you see.”

He met her eyes, words catching in his throat before he was speaking too quickly, trying to make her understand, “It was me, Kory. I did it, I _felt_ it. It was me making those choices. God, it was so real-”

She moved her hand to his face, cupping the side of his head. “ _Dick_ ,” she said, “that wasn't you, okay? You're not a killer, a wildcard maybe, I'd call you a fucking train wreck, but you aren't a killer.”

A laugh bubbled out of his throat. He shook his head, smiling ironically, “I've killed people before, Kory.”

“And I've burned a man to cinders, what's your point?”

Her words had an uncannily calming effect, as if she had reduced his entire dilemma into a poorly placed joke.

“What else?” she asked.

“Hmm?”

“What else did you see?”

Maybe he was high off the feeling of finally expelling his troubles, but he continued, “I… I had a kid.”

“A kid? With who?”

“No one,” he shook his head. “An ex… Dawn.”

“The woman you wanted to leave Rachel with,” Kory said, slowly. Her hand, which had again traveled to the back of his head paused and for a moment he feared that he had ruined the entire moment. But then she looked at him, sincere as day, and asked, “Is that what you want?”

“No,” he said, without having to think twice. “Dawn and I… we were done a long time ago. That's why it all seems so surreal. I don't think I thought of kids even when I was with her.”

Kory hummed at the back of her throat, but didn't say anything, mulling over his answer. “But you liked it,” she said, finally. “Being a father -that’s something you want.”

His protest was too quick to rise, “I’m not meant to be a father, Kory.”

“And yet…” she drawled, ominously.

He huffed out a small laugh, knowing it was useless to argue with her.

“Rachel and Gar were in college,” he revealed, knowing at least that that bit of the hallucination was something that Kory would be interested in.

Kory laughed, surprised, “I think they'd have to go to school first.”

Her smile was infectious. “You were there too,” he said, “but your hair…” he trailed off, suddenly realizing the details he was about to disclose.

She raised one eyebrow, “What about my hair?”

The halo of her curls fell around her face as she leaned towards him, springing magenta strands inches away from his skin.

Slowly, the air between them changed. Her eyes trailed leisurely across his face, taking stock of each and every feature, counting flaws and freckles. It always unnerved him when she looked at him this way, like she could glean away his whole life if she just looked at him a bit too closely.

Without thinking what he was doing, he reached a hand towards her face, taking a curl into his fingers and giving it a gentle tug, “It was black and… straight,” he said. His eyes followed the curve of her cheekbone, voice low in his throat. “Was pretty…but I like your hair now.”

He felt like he had revealed too much but the smile she sent his way was blinding, removing any lingering doubts.

This was what he needed, to see her smiling like that… because it reminded him that she was alive. And if she was alive than he hadn't really killed Bruce and none of what he had seen was actually real.

Kory took another step closer, standing in the space between his legs. She brought her other hand up to his face until her arms were draped around his shoulders. When she was this close, he couldn't stop looking at her. She was stunning really, everything about her, like fire made real, always burning, always smoldering…

She leaned down until her forehead was level with his. Up close, he could see the exact shade of green in her eyes, the curl of her thick lashes as she blinked. His heart clenched in an emotion familiar, one that he had forbid himself to long ago.

“Kory,” he breathed.

“Stop thinking, Dick,” she whispered back.

And then she was closing the distance between them, swinging one leg over his waist, falling into his lap. He brought his hand to her face, cupping her jaw, his other arm wrapping tight around her waist.

Every other thought in his head vanished, replaced by the sudden intensity with which she kissed him, the feeling of her in his hands almost heady, clouding his senses.

Kory kissed like she did everything else, boldly, with purpose. He hauled her tighter against him, parting her mouth, skin burning everywhere they touched. He was no stranger to passion, the blistering heat of realized chemistry, but right then, as he slowly, purposefully, divested her of her layers, he thought that he had never known anyone like her, anyone that made him feel like his heart was too big for his chest, that made him feel like his skin was alive, smarting in awareness.

She laughed in surprise when he deftly hauled her onto the bed, hovering over her body as he laid kisses against her neck. “I knew there had to be some advantages of sleeping with Robin,” she teased.

“You should've considered that before I burned the suit,” he murmured against her skin.

Kory raised an eyebrow, “Now that's a can of worms I do not wanna touch.”

Dick leaned away to look into her eyes, lips turning up in a devilish grin. “What? Scared of a little foreplay?”

There was a mischievous glint in her eye she rolled them over, pinning his arm to the bed with her hands. “Oh, I'll show you foreplay,” she whispered.

And for the first time in years, Dick surrendered. Surrendered to the want that thrummed like adrenaline through his veins, surrendered to the vulnerability he exposed himself to every time he showed her another part of himself. Twice before, he had almost left, almost abandoned this ragtag team that he had unwillingly found himself a part of. But after everything that had happened, maybe he didn't need to leave them to rediscover who he was. Maybe they could help him do it.

Looking at Kory, braced above him, framed into view in the low lamplight, he thought maybe she already was.


End file.
